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The 2013 heist game continues to be a major earner for Starbreeze, bringing in a total of 20.9 million during the company's latest quarter.

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

November 6, 2018

2 Min Read

The results of Starbreeze Studios’ Q3 financials are out in the wild, and the report shows that the company has once again reported a loss for the quarter, though it is an expected dip after Q2’s brief profitability

For the quarter ending September 30, Starbreeze recorded a pre-tax loss of SEK 102.3 million (~$11.3 million), nearly triple the SEK 35.3 million (~$3.9 million) loss it recorded in the third quarter of the 2017 fiscal year. That’s also a significant dip from the SEK 26.2 million (~$2.9 million) in profit it reported last quarter, though that drop was expected since the sale of the Dead by Daylight publishing rights notably gave its Q2 income a sizable boost. 

It’s worth noting that this quarter closed prior to today’s release of Overkill’s The Walking Dead, the first release out of eight big projects Starbreeze is currently funding according to CEO Bo Andersson and what he describes as the company’s biggest launch since Payday 2.

Sales for the quarter were also down year-over-year, but were driven primarily by Starbreeze’s cash-cow Payday 2. The company reported SEK 33.9 million (~$3.7 million) in net sales this quarter and went on to say that Payday 2 alone brought in SEK 20.9 million (~$2.3 million), roughly 62 percent of overall sales. For the nine-month period that makes up the 2018 fiscal year so far, Starbreeze reported SEK 267.5 million (~$29.5 million) in net sales and says that Payday 2 was responsible for SEK 77.3 million (~$8.5 million) of that. 

Looking again at profit, the 2018 fiscal year is currently facing a loss of SEK 82.5 million (~$9.1 million) for the combined first three quarters of the year. It’s a slight improvement compared to the SEK 108.3 million (~$12 million) loss reported for the same period last year, but, again, this year’s numbers saw a boost from last quarter’s sale of the Dead by Daylight rights. 

The plan, according to Andersson, is to bring Starbreeze’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) into the black during Q4 2018, and continue to deliver positive EBITDA “thereafter on an annual basis.” For the 2018 fiscal year, Starbreeze’s EBITDA was reported as a loss of SEK 37.9 million (~$4.2 million) for Q3 and a positive SEK 63.4 million (~$7 million) for the first nine months so far.

About the Author(s)

Alissa McAloon

Publisher, GameDeveloper.com

As the Publisher of Game Developer, Alissa McAloon brings a decade of experience in the video game industry and media. When not working in the world of B2B game journalism, Alissa enjoys spending her time in the worlds of immersive sandbox games or dabbling in the occasional TTRPG.

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